Kemp, who was head of U.S. large-cap growth equity, will be
a managing director and head of BlackRock’s fundamental large-cap growth team when he joins the firm Dec. 10, said Bobbie
Collins, a spokeswoman for the New York-based firm. Kemp will
replace Jeffrey Lindsey, who told BlackRock he is leaving in
February after 10 years, Collins said.

BlackRock, which manages $3.67 trillion in assets, is
trying to woo investors back into its active equity funds. The
firm replaced the group that oversees investment products with
five specialized units in August, in the most sweeping overhaul
since its 2009 takeover of Barclays Global Investors. Clients
pulled $12.7 billion from BlackRock’s active stock funds this
year through Sept. 30.

“Our fundamental equity, I spoke about that in the last
few quarters, and it has been a disappointment,” said
BlackRock’s Chief Executive Officer Laurence D. Fink during a
conference call with investors and analysts last month. “Our
performance issues are concentrated in a handful of teams,
mostly in the United States.”

Kemp, who will be based in New York, is scheduled to
oversee the $4.9 billion BlackRock Capital Appreciation Fund,
the $73 million BlackRock Focus Growth Fund and Fundamental
Large Cap Growth Portfolios, including sub-advised and
institutional portfolios, starting Jan 1., according to Collins.
The BlackRock Capital Appreciation Fund returned 11 percent this
year, behind 64 percent of peers, and the Focus Growth Fund has
returned 11 percent in the retail share class, trailing 54
percent of rivals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Kemp will report to Chris Leavy, who took over the
responsibility for BlackRock’s large-cap portfolios from Robert
Doll, the firm’s former equity chief investment strategist, who
said in June he was leaving.